442 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Purchased by von Borstel & Associates Inc.

von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 442 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the period. United Bank raised its position in Meta Platforms by 22.2% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 723,400 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $414,103,000 after buying an additional 16,950 shares during the period. Finally, Overbrook Management Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 27,082 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,503,000 after buying an additional 7,654 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $596.25 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $655.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $606.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 622,431 shares of company stock worth $408,968,491 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.